BACKGROUND: Organic mulches are widely used in crop production systems. Due to their benefits in improving soil fertility, retention of soil moisture and weed control. Field experiments were conducted during wheat growing seasons of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 to evaluate the effects of Jatropha leaves mulch on the growth of wheat varieties 'Wadan-17' (rainfed) and 'Pirsabaq-2013' (irrigated) under well irrigated and water stress conditions (non-irrigated maintaining 40% soil field capacity). Jatropha mulch was applied to the soil surface at 0, 1, 3 and 5 Mg ha-1 before sowing grains in the field. Under conditions of water stress, Jatropha mulch significantly maintained the soil moisture content necessary for normal plant growth. RESULTS: We noted a decrease in plant height, shoot and root fresh/dry weight, leaf area, leaf relative water content (LRWC), chlorophyll, and carotenoid content due to water stress. However, water stress caused an increase in leaf and root phenolics content, leaf soluble sugars and electrolytes leakage. We observed that Jatropha mulch maintained LRWC, plant height, shoot and root fresh/dry weight, leaf area and chlorophyll content under water stress. Moreover, water stress adverse effects on leaf soluble sugar content and electrolyte leakage were reversed to normal by Jatropha mulch. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it may be concluded that Jatropha leaves mulch will minimize water stress adverse effects on wheat by maintaining soil moisture and plant water status.

Agricultural Research Ltd 664 41 Troubsko Czech Republic

Department of Agrochemistry Soil Science Microbiology and Plant Nutrition Faculty of Agrisciences Mendel University in Brno Zemedelska 1 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Agronomy Faculty of Agriculture Kafrelsheikh University Kafrelsheikh Egypt

Department of Agronomy The University of Haripur Haripur 22620 Pakistan

Department of Biotechnology College of Science Taif University P O Box 11099 Taif 21944 Saudi Arabia

Department of Botany University of Science and Technology Bannu KP Bannu Pakistan

Department of Geology and Pedology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemedelska 3 Brno Czech Republic

Departments of Soil Science Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Punjab 60800 Pakistan

Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bio Resource College of Tropical Crops Hainan University Haikou 570228 China

Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Environmental Protection Faculty of Chemistry Brno University of Technology Purkynova 118 612 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences University of Agriculture Faisalabad Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan

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Mulching impact of Jatropha curcas L. leaves on soil fertility and yield of wheat under water stress